"The recipe called for four pints but the containers I bought were in ounces and math is hard and I just decided to go with three containers and hope for the best."

There's no mathematical conversion needed here, but measuring cups. She's mixing up "ounce" the weight and "ounce" the volume (1/32nd of a pint). I'd look for somebody else to explain "how to" follow recipes. I wonder what that says about figuring out relationships, sexuality, and self esteem, which would seem to be even more difficult than making pasta from a recipe.

And what sort of feminist says "math is hard" (the old talking-Barbie line that irked feminists long ago)?posted by Alizaria at 6:35 AM on July 9, 2014

Yeah um, it's not that she was saying women suck at math, it was saying that she individually sucks at math, which is a-okay to say.

Also I wouldn't say that math ability necessarily has much to do with one's ability to understand psychological/emotional issues. Some people can be great at one thing and shit at another.

Roxane Gay relatively frequently does posts like this (although this is the first "advice column" one I'd seen; usually the non-cooking parts are her musing about her own past). They're my favorite thing she does.posted by agress at 7:39 AM on July 9, 2014 [2 favorites]

true, but the topping of that cherry pie is criminal. (She admits it's ugly, but cherry pie should be open faced, or if you must, latticed.. )posted by k5.user at 7:41 AM on July 9, 2014

(and I say this as someone who doesn't agree with everything she says but appreciates/loves that everything she writes is fucking compelling and a part of the discourse)posted by mandymanwasregistered at 9:34 PM on July 9, 2014

The reviews of her books make me wonder how I have not yet read them; this is an oversight I will rectify as soon as possible.

The switching back and forth between recipe and memoir, though, was not so much my style. I'll be picking up her book this weekend and hoping it does not follow this pattern.posted by Dip Flash at 11:51 PM on July 9, 2014

Couple days late but I just wanted to say I enjoyed this a lot! Thanks for posting it.posted by ootandaboot at 9:12 PM on July 10, 2014

There's no mathematical conversion needed here, but measuring cups. She's mixing up "ounce" the weight and "ounce" the volume (1/32nd of a pint).

ounce the weight is 1/16 pound (avoirdupois). ounce the volume (US) is 1/16 pint (US). if you use a funky accent they even kinda sound the same, though the words aren't related, and both have more or less common alternate definitions---different weight pounds are 12, 15, or 16 of the relevant ounce; an Imperial pint is 20 Imperial ounces....posted by FlyingMonkey at 5:30 PM on July 14, 2014

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